Means for protecting tobacco-curing barns



R. L. ROSE MEANS FOR PROTECTING TOBACCO CURING BARNS Filed Jan. 27, 1923 wa I attorney f poses.

Patented Dec. 2, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT L. ROSE, OF SPRINGFIELD, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR O'F ONE HALF '1'0 ERSKIN EMPSON, 0F SPRINGFIELD, TENNESSEE; I

MEANS FOR PROTECTING TOBACCO-CURING BARNS.

Application filed January 27, 1923. "Se-rial No. 615,253.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT L. RosE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Robertson and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Protecting T obacco-Curing Barns, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object the provision of" simple, efficient and inexpensive means whereby tobacco which has been hung within a barn to be cured will be protected from destruction through dropping upon the fire kindled in the barn for curing pur- The invention provides means whereby any tobacco which may drop will be caught and prevented from falling upon the fire so that the sudden increase of the blaze will be prevented and loss of tobacco and of the barn will be avoided. The invention consists in certain novel constuction and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter fully described and then particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which I Figure 1 is a section of a tobacco-curing barn with my invention embodied'therein,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail perspective view of the screen whereby dropping of tobacco upon the fire is revented.

The barn 1 may be 0 any desired form and dimensions. It is provided with the usual hanger beams 2 which extend the full length of the barn and may be set into the end walls thereof or rest upon cross bars, as indicated at 3. In curing tobacco, the plants are hung upon the beams either directly or by the use of hangers and a wood fire is kindled upon the ground within the barn. .The smoke from the fire rises to the roof of the barn and escapes under the same, circulating around and about the suspended tobacco as it rises so that the tobacco is relieved of moisture and is properly colored. Heretofore it has fre uently happened that some of the tobacco eaves as they became dry dropped from the beams onto the fire with the result that the fire was suddenly increased in intensity and the blaze leaped high so that it reached the tobacco and con sumed the same as well as the barn and its entire contents, the condition not being discovered until it was too late to be overcome,

In carrying out my invention, I employ a plurality of guards consisting ofwire mesh screens 4- carried by open metallic frames 5, and I suspend these, guards or screens from the lowest beams2 by hangers 6 which consist of light metal rods or stout wires having upturned hooks 7 at their lower ends to engage under and about the frame '5 and through the adjacent meshes of the screen 4 and provided at their upper ends with flattened hooks 8 having their bills 9 down.- turned so that they fit over the beams 2 and snugly against the side edges of the same.-

The screens are thus firmly supported and they are to be provided in such numbers that their combined areas will be equal'tothe entire horizontal area of the barn.

When the barn is equipped with my device, any tobacco which may split and fall from the beams will be caught by the screens and will be thereby prevented from dropping onto the fire, and the flame from the fire will not pass through the screens, al-

though the smoke and heat may readily rise through the meshes thereof and circulate around and about the suspended tobacco. My device is exceedingly simple and inexpensive and may be very easily applied to or removed from any barn.

- Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. Means for the purpose set forth comprising foraminous screens, and hangers having their lower ends attached to the screens and their upper ends engaged over beams of a tobacco barn.

2. Means for the purpose set forth comprising wire mesh screens, and hangers provided at their lower ends with upstanding hooks to engage said screens and at their upper ends with overhanging hooks to engage over and upon beams of a barn.

3. Means for the purpose set forth comprising a plurality of open frames, wire mesh screens secured upon said frames, and suspending devices provided at their lower ends with upturned hooks to engage under and around the frames and through the adjacent meshes of the screens and at their upper ends with laterally disposed over- ;hang'ing hooks to engage over and fit snugly uponth'e-"beams of a barn.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

, ROBERT L. ROSE. 1. 8. 

